Real simple question: what would it take to change the age for Medicare?

[Stinky The Clown]

Is this for congress?

Can the president simply order it?

How do we change the age for Medicare?

[sinkingfeeling]

1. It would take Congress. Isn't there already a proposal by Ryan to

increase the age to 70?

[CAPHAVOC]

2. A 50 page bill

Expanding Medicare to all citizens and throwing the Mega-Insurance companies on the ash heap of history. And it is Constitutional. We can't have that can we?

[One_Life_To_Give]

10. Who would fund campaigns and write laws then?

How is our democracy going to function without big insurance to fund our campaigns and their lobbyists to write out laws?

[CAPHAVOC]

12. Maybe the way it

is supposed to. The Corruptocraticans rule the day right now.

[bornskeptic]

13. The insurance companies wouldn't mindit if the Medicare eligibility age was dropped to 55 or 60.

We people in that age bracket are too expensive to cover. They'd be able to drop their premiums to attract more young healthy people into the market. Under the ACA they are only allowed to charge three times as much for a 64-year-old as for a healthy 25 -year-old, compared with the 10:1 ratios which sometimes occur now.

[Horse with no Name]

3. Universal Healthcare for all could happen so easily

1. Drop the age requirement for Medicare to 18.
2. Drop the income requirements for CHIPS for those under 18.

[tsuki]

4. OMG, the Catholics would go crazy. Women's care

would be paid for including birth control. Never happen.

[Horse with no Name]

8. Then they could opt out for religious reasons

and pay their own way. I don't have a problem with that.

[zipplewrath]

5. Strategically

They should have handled the "kids on parents policy" by offering that parents could buy medicare for them for a few years. The kds would have gotten used to it and wanted to buy additional years. Pretty soon, you'd have a population of people that just expected to be able to get their health insurace "from the government".

[libtodeath]

7. X1000

[karynnj]

14. Easily? You have the Republican House voting for this and 60 Senators?

I think this could not have passed back in 2009. In addition, an enormous amount of revenue would have to be found to pay for this.

[SammyWinstonJack]

6. That little shit Ryan wants to RAISE it to 70!

[Lydia Leftcoast]

9. And then he would have had to face a lot of pissed-off people between the ages of

65 and 69.

Not to mention the fact that 70-year-olds usually have more ailments than younger people, so it would actually worsen the system's financing.

Given all the people 50-65 who are having trouble paying for insurance, I'd think that a gradual lowering of the age (by 5 years every year) would be popular. By 2016, everyone over 45 would be eligible.

Filling the ranks with younger, healthier people would help balance the system's finances.

[Stinky The Clown]

16. Stop being sensible!

Shame on you!

[Lydia Leftcoast]

17. Sorry, I know that's not allowed

in Conventional Beltway Wisdom Land.

[belcffub]

18. just a little confused...

how would it be cheaper if more people are on medicare...

doesn't mater how healthy people are... medicare is financed from paycheck withholdings (a dedicated tax really)... that amount won't change if you add additional people... seems like it would cost more if you add more people

can you explain how it would be cheaper...

[Lydia Leftcoast]

19. Seniors pay premiums in addition to the paycheck withholding

If younger, healthier people were paying premiums but not using as many services (less likely to have cancer, heart attacks, strokes than the 65+ crowd and far less likely to need nursing home care, even for the 30 days allowed after hospitalization), that would help the finances.

[tsuki]

20. I think that the way they wanted it to work was a buy in at less than 65.

[belcffub]

21. ok... that makes more sense...

I just didn't get how it balanced out before...

thanks again

[SOS]

11. They were within one vote of lowering it to 55

But our friend Joe Lieberman voted no leaving us one vote short.

His insurance pals in Hartford must have paid off handsomely for that.

[hughee99]

15. And Act of congress and a lot of money. n/t